Using power control to build neighborhoods in ad-hoc networks: shouting!

The past few years have seen a tremendous surge of interest in wireless mobile (ad-hoc, or nomadic) networks. In many cases, mobile nodes are powered by batteries, therefore their uptime depends on how efficiently they can utilize the limited energy. Some current research in ad-hoc networks does address power control per se, but we have not found work that centers on the use of dynamic power control to reduce the power expenditure at each node during the setup and maintenance of communication links. We present a new mechanism, Shouting, as a tool to progressively build one-hop neighborhoods in ad-hoc networks in an energy-efficient manner. Additionally, we present a fully distributed and scalable link-layer protocol, based on Shouting, to build and maintain such energy-efficient neighborhoods. Our protocol has the added advantage that it can respond to higher-level protocols for more effective route discovery and maintenance, enhancing reliability.